A Jim Thorpe restaurant owner faces three felony charges related to the burglary of a Dollar General in Penn Forest Township early Tuesday morning.

Hassan Chafiq, 59, owner of Trattoria 903, was preliminarily arraigned Tuesday afternoon in front of Magisterial District Judge Eric Schrantz and remains in Carbon County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.

In an affidavit of probable cause, state police from the Fern Ridge barracks said they were called to the store, located in the 2500-block of Route 903, at 4:30 a.m. to investigate a break-in. The store manager, Joshua Kubiak, had called authorities after he arrived to prepare for shipment of a new product, but noticed a mess in the freezer aisle and saw a hole cut in the back of the freezer.

After calling police, Kubiak said he saw a vehicle driving through the grass behind the store with its lights off, trooper Frank Pawloski wrote in his affidavit. He heard a loud bang and then witnessed what he thought were two people trying to free the vehicle before they fled on foot.

When police arrived to the scene, they found no suspects inside the store, but did locate a blue Ford Focus disabled on top of what troopers said looked like a concrete septic tank cover.

Troopers found two likely entry points, one at the rear of the building near the air conditioning unit and another on the south side of the structure.

“A Stanley utility knife was located at the damage to the rear of the building,” Pawloski wrote. “A reciprocating saw, corded angle grinder, cutting pliers, a canister of MAP gas, and a 20-volt DeWalt battery were located at the side entry point.”

Pawloski said entry was made by separating the metal siding on the building by removing bolts that held the panels together.

“From the inside of the building, two shelves from the freezer had been dumped into the aisle and a hole was very evident in the back of the freezer,” he added.

Around 7 a.m., a caller advised troopers of a “suspicious male” walking south on Route 903 near the Dollar General.

Trooper Joseph Richards and Cpl. Carmen Yurek located the man, who was identified as Chafiq.

Chafiq was in possession of grinder disks matching the grinders found at the crime scene and a key for a Ford, which police later confirmed started the Ford Focus left at the store.

“(Chafiq) said the vehicle was not his, however he kept many of the tools in the vehicle and maintained possession of a key,” Pawloski wrote.

According to Chafiq, he received a text message that the vehicle was “down 903” and began trying to find it. He told police he tried to call his wife, but she did not answer, and his second vehicle had a flat tire. After making it to Route 115 without finding the vehicle, he turned around and began to walk back toward his restaurant, he added.

“During his travels (Chafiq) said he did not see state police anywhere along his way despite our heavy presence on Route 903,” Pawloski said. “He did not have an answer as to why he had grinder disks in his pocket.”

Chafiq faces one count each of burglary, criminal mischief, criminal trespass-breaking into structure, criminal trespass-simple trespasser, defiant trespass, possessing an instrument of crime with intent to use it, abandoning a vehicle, fraudulent use-removal of registration plate, damage to real property by operating a motor vehicle, and accidents involving to damage to unattended vehicle or property.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 21 at 2:15 p.m. in front of Magistrate Schrantz.